The Issues Raised by Higher Fees

Published in the Washington Post, June 7, 2004

Though Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) finds increases in user fees preferable to tax increases, many consumers see no difference.

I have received calls from consumers stunned by the nearly threefold rise last year in the cost of death certificates in Maryland: from $7 to $20 per certified copy. Their dismay is justified. Survivors must purchase a certified copy for every legal transaction; in other words, one copy each to remove the name of a deceased from bank accounts, retirement funds, insurance policies, motor vehicle registrations, real estate and tax records, and stock, bond, and credit card accounts. Thus a survivor might easily need 10 certified copies, now costing $200.

Consumers of all incomes must pay this exorbitant fee. How does that differ from a regressive tax?

Nancy J. Herin
President, Funeral Consumers Alliance Of Maryland & Environs